Tuesday, December 20

They're moist on the inside, with a nice light crunch on the outside (recipe here)

Beautifully golden brown and dotted with jewel-like dried cranberries and optional chopped pecans, these cute little scones are sure to brighten any holiday table. I named them Christmas Cranberry Scones the year I baked them all afternoon at a kitchen store holiday open house, but they're tasty any time of year. Buttery and crumbly and rich, try them for breakfast, brunch, or afternoon tea.

And to round out your easy scone repertoire, I suggest my popular Savory Cheese and Scallion Scones with Feta, which are made with softened cream cheese instead of butter. Add them to your holiday bread basket, serve them for breakfast, or split and toast them to make satisfying little leftover turkey or ham sandwiches. Both of these recipes also freeze beautifully. Enjoy!

Still hungry after stuffing yourself with scones?You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

Hi SowandSo,Making these scones a day ahead of time should be fine. They do taste best warm, so it would be ideal if you were able to reheat them for 5 to 10 minutes in the oven before serving, which will nicely crisp them back up - and help the butter melt. ;) But they taste good at room temperature, too!

Anon,Since dried cranberries (craisins) are sweetened, and fresh cranberries are very tart, I'm not sure how these scones would taste made with fresh cranberries. If you like that tartness, you might try using them and adding a little more sugar to the batter. If you do try it, I hope you'll let us know how they turn out!

As for baking with steel cut oats, I'm afraid I have no experience with that. But the texture of the oats is so different, I'm not sure you could successfully swap them out in a cookie recipe. I seem to recall that most recipes for bowls of oatmeal made with steel cut oats call for long cooking times and/or soaking the oats first, which isn't necessary when using old-fashioned oats.

I made these and your savory cheese scones today. I could not resist and had to try them both. YUM I have been wanting to try to make scones and never had the nerve. Now I know that I can do it. I have loved every one of your recipes that I have tried.

December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!

Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.

I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!